WHEN I WAS YOUNG I SAID I WOULD BE HAPPY is a feature length documentary about the transformation achieved by 12 orphan genocide survivors in Rwanda after participating in a new form of sustainable humanitarian aid called Project LIGHT. Using a train the trainer model, these young people called Ambassadors, were trained to heal their Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and their hearts as well as teach others to do the same. In only two short years they paid forward their healing to hundreds, from Rwanda to Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Barnet Bain - Producer

Barnet Bain has built his career telling transformational stories. Barnet is an Emmy nominated television and film producer, director and screenwriter. Select credits include Oscar-winner What Dreams May Come (Producer), Emmy Award nominee-Outstanding Made for TV Movie Homeless to Harvard: the Liz Murray Story (Executive Producer), The Celestine Prophecy (Writer, Producer), The Jesus Film (aka Jesus) cited by the New York Times as the most watched movie ever (Writer), and The Lost and Found Family (Director). Upcoming film productions include Milton’s Secret, based on the book by Eckhart Tolle, Illusions based on the classic novel by Richard Bach and directed by Zack Snyder; and the documentary feature When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy: the Story of Project LIGHT Rwanda currently in post production. Barnet is a member of the Transformational Leadership Council and a contributing blogger for the Huffington Post. He is the author of the forthcoming Book of Doing and Being, Simon and Schuster, 2015. Barnet can be heard every week as co-host of Cutting Edge Consciousness Radio on KVTA AM Talk Radio in Southern California (www.cuttingedgeconsciousness.com) in conversation with thought leaders and visionaries from the worlds of culture, commerce and consciousness.

Every once in a while, a story emerges that speaks to the basic human drive to find purpose, meaning, and fundamental mattering. When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy is such a story. The film goes beyond our ability to overcome insurmountable challenges with dignity. It dives deeper than the realization that we all possess the capacity to love or to hate, to cultivate life or destroy it, to do nothing or to do something. We are all made of matter and I believe we all matter. The story follows the journey of orphan genocide survivors paying it forward to those afflicted by the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary. Typically, films about work in Africa follow a predictable narrative about someone from the West – a gray-hair or a young well-to-do college student – helping some poor, disenfranchised individuals that can’t help themselves. Often this predictable and occasionally condescending portrayal eliminates the power of our collective will to work towards a better future. So, we flipped it. We imagined a world when every person matters and has the tools and agency to find purpose - whether around the globe or around the block. I believe that to be a prosperous and peaceful world interconnected with endless possibility and hope.

When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy will release this fall for select screenings and film festivals. Project LIGHT actively engages in partnerships to educate people around the globe and consults organizations with tested and effective means for healing trauma. The Project aims to spread the message that healing is possible and fosters resiliency in participants worldwide. This powerful approach nurtures our next generation of young people to become heart-centered citizens committed to global healing. If you are interested in working with the film or in creating potential partnerships with Project LIGHT please contact Lori Leyden at [email protected].